I just wanted to add something from my own FtF experience to the discussion on whether dead players should be allowed to interact. The OP on this suggested that in FtF this is a big no-no. It may be there is a difference here between FtF in tournaments, and F2F the way the game was originally played. In my own experience, the interaction of a dead player is not only allowed but very much part of the game. The practical reason as far as we were concerned is that when you are playing with friends/family and you get eliminated early, if you are NOT allowed to interact then what do you do for the rest of the evening? Make the drinks? Sit quietly in the corner crying into your G&T? Clean the kitchen? We found it almost impossible for the dead players not to want to comment and watch developments, and in fact this would extend even so far that this was the way the dead players could have some fun for the rest of the evening by interfering and trying to destabilize alliances and generally affect the game and/or other players

I realize that seems to be completely against the game, but it was reality. If you are all playing to have fun (after all, why else play a game as brutal as Diplomacy) then it seems the only realistic way to avoid some people being placed in virtual suspended animation. I can well understand this is not encouraged in F2F tourneys - perhaps there are actually three types of game under discussion here; F2F, Online and Tourney.

Iggy wrote:I'm not sure there is need for debate over whether this is a good practice, bad, etc. The question was just simply "is it allowed/acceptable". The answer seems to be a simple "yes, it is allowed and considered acceptable".

This is entirely correct. Negotiating during retreats and builds is also forbidden in FtF but in this format I do it every turn. I was simply asking the objective question of whether, for example, I should expect that if a player is killed the other powers cannot continue sending/receiving messages to/from that power. This has the potential for in-game changes in strategy from how I'd normally play, and I should have remembered to ask at the beginning of the tournament. I've been away from online a long time.

Just to be clear, you can't still send private messages but you can post in public press.

Actually, this isn't true. You can still send private messages after you've been eliminated, but before the game has ended.